A Little Damp Around The Edges!!

After waiting with great anticipation, the skies finally broke their grip on the wet stuff.  It started to rain at 5:30 last night and hasn't let up.  The San Francisco-San Jose area got hit pretty hard in the morning, with major electrical outages from wind damage and lots of flooding.  I would have stayed home I think, but many people chose to drive through those 6" to 36" inch deep flooded areas with the expected results ... stranded in a river of water going nowhere.

The wind did come up a little yesterday, blowing gusts from 15-25 mph here.  I understand it was worse in the mountains.  The biggest problem in my little town is the wind blowing all the leaves to the ground, which then get stuck in the drainage system, causing street flooding.  Do you think anyone would go out with a rake and clean the drains???  Of course not ... that's the City's problem ... but you should hear the complaints about the flooded streets and lawns!!

From the radar, it looks like the storm has shifted to Southern California.  I'm sure they can use the water too.  All the wet at my house is soaking into the ground nicely and so far my gutter handiwork is holding up nicely.  Los Banos (southwest of my location) received over 3 inches of rain last night, which will make Los Angeles happy, since they have a huge water supply there.  Los Angeles has huge water supplies all over California ... draining everyone up North dry, but I won't go there!!

I'm sure there will be flooding in our area as all that water comes down off the mountains into Bear Creek.  The further down the creek, the smaller it gets, ending up with no place for it to go. Flooding doesn't seem to worry anyone here, as nothing is ever done to improve the situation.  In my lifetime it's flooded 3 times, about two miles south of me.  Twice it could have been averted, but the powers that be wouldn't cut the bank to release the water into an unpopulated area.  Better to let those homes flood???  Yes ... that was the decision!!

At any rate, it's nice to hear the rain fall on the roof as I sit in front of the fire with my morning coffee!!  Cheers!!!!!

STORM OF THE CENTURY!!!

I'm sure everyone has heard about the BIG storm that was supposed to hit California yesterday ... key word here is WAS!!  That's right, it should have been pouring rain and flooding already.  It hasn't shown itself here yet.  Early this morning however were these beautiful clouds, piling up overhead like layers of whipped cream, only  much darker.

The winds are beginning to pick up a little to 15 mph, but nowhere near the 55-60 range.  As you can see by the radar map, it a good sized storm, but nothing like we went through back East.  In Kansas City, everything yellow here would be scary RED!!  By the way, it's moving North East, so what you see will pass by me .. which is a good thing!!  I can't say the same for Northern California as they are getting some rain and snow.  It's crazy that everyone is running around locally, buying all the food and water they can carry, fueling up their gas tanks (where are you going to go??) and stocking up on batteries.  If you live in the Sierra Mountains, that may not be a bad idea ... but around here, not much is happening!!  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow .....

I baked some blueberry muffins as a test batch for an upcoming rally.  Honest, I only ate one.  

I put the 50 pieces together ... actually there were 10 pieces, 60 spool holder pieces and 30 tiny screws.  Good thing I had my trusty little magnetic tip screwdriver!!  This will hang on the wall in my sewing room and hold all the thread I've purchased ... half price by the way!!  At least Christmas sales are keeping SOME money in my pocket!!

I found this crazy yellowish-green jacket on Mackinac Island in Lake Huron, Michigan, perfect for a photo shoot in a corn field!!  I'm not sure Miss Jessie agrees with me ... I think she was growling!!  It's not the kind of thing you would wear in my neck of the woods.

I discovered the perfect Christmas tree for my kitty loving friends.  Every time they leave the house, they come home to more broken ornaments on the floor!!!  This is too funny ... but I think would solve the problem!!!

I'll be on storm watch all day today.  Maybe that tree in the back yard I've asked the gardeners three time to cut down will fall down of it's own accord!!  60 mph winds just might do the trick!!!

What A Day .....

Tuesday, December 9, absolutely NOTHING interesting happened!!  Turns out it really was my day of rest.  The dense fog kept everyone at bay, including me.  The most exciting part of the afternoon was when I received a couple of packages, things I had ordered on-line.  I expected one to come assembled ... it didn't and it has probably 50 parts.  That will be today's project.

I've upped my running mileage to two miles a day.  I wear a fluorescent green jacket for running in the fog, but it didn't keep me from getting soaking wet.  The fog was more like rain!!  Looks like it's on the way out however, since we are scheduled to receive the storm of all storms in the next three days.  They have been warning people to get their gas tanks full, have lots of water and food available, along with their flashlights.  I'll just hang out in the rig, generator running if need be.

Late in the day I headed off to cashier Elks Bingo ... another exciting night of jackpot winners, some winning more than one game ... which results in lots of moaning and groaning!!  I took all that candy I made, thinking the guys would eventually eat it up.  Gone in 30 seconds!!!

That's it .... what a day!!  Definitely hope I don't have many more like this!!

Murder In River City!!

I'll be the first to admit that I don't read the local newspaper.  For one, it costs a whopping $200 a year for a subscription that gets you 4 pages of news from around the world and 6 pages of advertisement,.  They cover things like Abercrombie and Fitch's CEO retiring and Hong Kong Police shutting down a protest camp.  Most of the LOCAL news reported in our newspaper can't be trusted, so even if you read it there, don't take it to heart.  Lastly, I know murder and mayhem sells papers, but unless it's Christmas, that's about the only thing that's reportable.  Not that I stick my head in the sand, although many times that sounds like a good idea, but I'm tired of reading about the horrible state of our community.

This morning I decided to check out the local news, to find there were two more murders in our County on Sunday.  That brings us to a total of 31 this year.  That seems pretty crazy to me.  I remember the years when there was only one or NONE.  I'm pretty sure this is a result of the drug and gang culture, which is highly prevalent here.  Don't blame it on guns ... if guns were illegal, the only people that would have them would be the crooks and thugs.  If they didn't have guns, they would use knives.  The point is, they are going to continue their behavior regardless of what weapon they use.  The bad news is the Sheriff and Police Departments don't seem to be able to control the situation.  Is this happening just in my little area??

A 15 year old kid was shot and killed in a park at night, after meeting up with several other "kids".  Another guy standing outside a restaurant (although truth be told, it's a bar) was shot by a guy running through the parking lot.  When the first guy ran inside the bar and fell to the floor, the shooter following him INTO the bar and shot him again.  In other news, a 17 year old will survive a gunshot to the head a few days ago in a gang fight.

I suppose if you ask why this is going on, you would get the usual ... "we don't have enough police force to handle the situation".  Really??  You might have a bigger police force if the powers-that-be would quit spending taxpayers money on conferences in Disneyland and Hawaii.  Maybe you should drive yourself to the airport instead of taking that limousine.  Maybe instead of paying for a four lane road extension right next to a grammar school, you should contact other police departments and see how they are handling their drug and gang problems.  I could go on and on.

Vote you say??  Vote those people out of office and put someone in their place that has a little common sense??  We have tried and tried.  The thing I don't understand is how someone you voted for because of their views on issues,  could immediately turn into a money groveling idiot the day they are sworn in.  What happened to changing the world??  What happened to fiscal responsibility??  What happened to just changing our little slice of the pie into a better place to live??

Maybe it's like this everywhere, although I'm sure there are plenty of cities that are NOT on the worst place to live in America list.  In the meantime, you can't even read the local newspaper on the internet for free any more.  As I was trying to be a responsible citizen and keep up with the local news, I was rudely interrupted by a pop-up saying I had to become a MEMBER for a mere .99 charge to my credit card (how often, I didn't bother to check).  Apparently nothing's free any more ... I guess I'll go bury my head in the sand!!

Not A Day Of Rest!!

Sundays should be a day of rest, but that wasn't the case yesterday.  Several little things have been hanging over my head, and I needed to get them done so they wouldn't keep me up at night any more.

First I went into town and finished the bookkeeping job I was working on.  It's pretty time consuming to start from January 1 and enter every check for 5 accounts, but that's my fault for being gone all summer and not keeping up!!  It DID net me a huge bag of sweet potatoes, of which I'm NOT a big fan.  If they are smothered in marshmallows, I can eat a few bites ... these weren't.  They are however, very good for you, so for dinner, I baked another chicken and a couple orange chunks of potato.  Peeled, sprinkled with brown sugar, a touch of butter and about half a cup of Dakin's Pure Maple Syrup from Vermont ... Grade A ... they were absolutely delicious!!  I have to thank the Westerfield's for taking me to Dakins Farm for a taste test.  This syrup is like GOLD!!!  I can make dessert out of sweet potatoes!!  Who knew???

I picked up the drapery hanging stuff on the way home ... the whatchamacallits are called plastic anchors.  Yoda was hanging out at the lumber store.  I'm not sure how big the market is for Yoda stockings ... there was a pile of them still laying in the box.

The drapes were hung by the Texas Star with care .... sorry, I'm not able to get a good image with so much light coming in those windows.  I love having it open though so I can keep an eye on my horses that are no more.  (Big sigh)

Next up was to check out that cotter pin coming loose at the top of my awning.  That's when I discovered ANOTHER problem.  Geeze ... I guess I haven't learned it's always something!!  I hit the switch ... the awning began to unfurl, but the braces didn't.  The awning slid nicely down the side of the coach.  YIKES!!!  I hit the button to close it and thankfully, the material rewound itself.  Hmmmm looks like I'll have to climb on top to check that pin.  Might as well take a bottle of Aerospace 303 up with me and start the big wipe down.  I had to be inventive, but with a screwdriver, a pair of pliers and a piece of wood, I was able to get the cotter pin back to it's original location, like the second pin.  Looks like this one just wiggled loose.  Still the awning won't open out ... hopefully I can get it repaired in Indio!!

Now for some hands and knees work.  I wiped down the front section of the roof and sprayed it with 303.  Directions say to keep wiping until it dries, as it will not dry on its own.  That's weird.  So I wiped and wiped and wiped some more until it looked dry.  I can't tell the difference at all, but hopefully this will keep the sun's rays from oxidizing the coating so much, keeping it off the sides of the rig.  Unfortunately I didn't get far.  There was just too much moisture on the roof.  My pants from the knees down were quickly soaking wet and the roof too damp to continue with the application.  THIS one will stay on my mind for another couple weeks I think.

Back in the house, I didn't sit down ... time to cut those Salted Peanut Squares up and box them for gifts.

I could have eaten the entire thing ... I'm definitely a fan of sweets AND peanut butter.  Here's the easy recipe.

3-1/2 cups dry roasted peanuts, divided in half

1 pkg (10oz) peanut butter chips

2 tablespoons butter

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme

36 miniature Snickers candy bars, chopped

Sprinkle half the peanuts into a greased 13 x 9 pan.  In a large microwave safe bowl, heat chips and butter at 50% power for 1 minute, then 20 second intervals until melted.  Stir until smooth, then add condensed milk, stirring until well mixed.  Cook in microwave 1 minute on high, uncovered.  Stir in marshmallow creme and candy bars.  Spread onto peanuts in pan (hard to do ... better to drop by spoonfuls) and kind of press down to even it out ... it will be sticky.  Sprinkle with remaining peanuts, cover with plastic wrap and press down evenly over entire pan.  Refrigerate until set ... I didn't wait long enough before taste testing and it was still gooey ... cut into squares and store in airtight container.  This is a perfect recipe to use up that leftover Halloween candy!!!

I also had a request regarding the Breville oven both Terry Russell and I have.  Miss Terry found it first and uses it for all of her baking.  Since my toaster oven was going out ... you know, the one I heat all my taquitos in?? ...  I went online and ordered this Breville 800XL.  I think there were two available models.  This one is a convection/bake oven, meaning you can either bake, convection bake or broil.  The rack inside can be set at three different heights.  It's also a toaster, with easy to use controls.  The buttons let you pick the type of cooking, the temperature and the time.  It measures 14 inches deep, 19 inches wide and 11 inches tall.  I LOVE THIS OVEN even though it wasn't exactly inexpensive!!  It also comes with a pizza pan and broiler pan.  Since it's so much smaller than my big ovens, it uses MUCH less power if you are cooking for just one or two.  Nick will attest to it's great pizza baking abilities.  If you want this for your rig, my advice would be to find a cardboard box the approximate dimensions and try it out before buying to be sure it fits your countertop.  It's definitely going with me on this next trip!!

I see from other blogs that it's apparently the time of year for amazing sunsets and sunrises!!  

Unfortunately there won't be one for me to watch THIS morning ... my trusty WeatherAlert radio went off early, warning of dense fog.  If you're driving in the San Joaquin Valley, be VERY careful.  

With this much moisture I won't be finishing the 303 bottle anytime soon and my planned trip to the quilt shop 60 miles south is cancelled due to fog.  Maybe today will be my day of rest!!

The Smell Of Money!!

It's in the air ..... can you smell it??  It's that funny odor of the green stuff ... money, moola, big bucks ... as the big box stores vie to empty your wallet.  When Christmas comes around, THEY smell money a mile away!!  I should have looked at my new Superwatch, because I thought it was Sunday when I trotted off to Lowes for the whatchamacallits to finish hanging my drapes.  WOW is all I can say.  It was SATURDAY and the place was packed, as was Best Buy next door.  There was hardly a parking space to be found.  Once inside, I looked down the aisle to see four to five people standing in EVERY line.  That was enough for me ... I turned around and made a beeline for the door.  In reality, it's probably the smell of plastic, burning holes in everyone's pocket as they whip out those credit cards to pay for baskets full of stuff!!  I was lucky to escape with my life!!!

This image has nothing to do with anything.  I snatched it off the internet and it's just for the ladies.  Sam Elliott has always been at the top of my movie watching list ... he makes the best cowboy ever ... yup, right up there with John Wayne.

Anyway, the moon was outshining everything yesterday morning, lighting up the trees and clouds as I had my morning coffee on the patio.  I think I feel that cold front heading our direction.  

I loaded more important junk into the motorhome and remembered the cotter pin that is sticking out at the top of the awning.  THAT will be on today's fix-it list, along with a trip to a small Ace Hardware.  In the meantime, you can smell the money in MY house too ... since all the ingredients I purchased cost a small fortune.  This is a replica of Starbucks lemon loaf and let me tell you ... it's lemony to the max!!  I can still smell it this morning in my kitchen.  The two blue mason jars are for soup gifts.  You just place all the dry ingredients in the jar and tie the recipe on with a pretty bow ... instant hostess gift.  The other four jars that were in the package are my new drinking glasses!!

I'm sure you can't imagine what THIS will make!!  You can't go wrong with 36 snickers candies, marshmallow creme and peanut butter chips!!!!

If anyone would like this recipe, I'll send it along ... it was truly to die for!!  Sweet and salty ... kind of like fudge, all made in the microwave!!  And peanuts are good for you, right????  Cut into squares, I'll load it into tins for neighborhood gifts.

Okay, time to quit messing around.  I have year end bookkeeping to do for some clients, which will take most of the day, then drape hanging and cotter pin fixing.  I'm going to be busy!!

It's a GPS .. It's a Watch ... It's SUPER WATCH!!

You know all those credit cards out there that give you the "special deals" ... like airplane miles or cash back or Disneyland cash??  Nowadays there are too many to count and I've tried VERY hard to keep mine to a minimum.  When I began this RV adventure, I cut back even more.  I will admit I have a Disney card because I LOVE Disneyland!!  I only use it for automatic charges, things like Direct TV, etc ... so it's easy to control and keep track of expenses.   A couple of years ago, after paying a pretty penny for airfare to Hawaii, I applied for an Airlines card and charge practically EVERYTHING to it.  Now I fly free every year (a minimum $1000 value).  The one extra card I keep around for emergencies is REI ... Recreational Equipment Incorporated.  Not only do you get a discount every time you purchase something from them, but you get dividends back at the end of the year.  Since I pay every card in full by the end of the month, I don't pay interest charges.  THAT part is crucial!!!  REI must have had a good year, because my dividend statement came in with a whopping $300 credit.  If worked right, these credit cards can be pretty cool!!!

Since my Nike watches were giving out right an left, I decided to see what REI had in the way of GPS watches ... maybe that would motivate me to keep running!!  Sure enough, they had a GREAT one.  This thing does everything but the dishes!!  It can tell you what your pace is, how far you've gone, how long you've been running or biking or swimming, what your heart rate is, it draws a map of where you ran (or walked) and will navigate you back home.  It tells you temperature, altitude and barometric pressure and has a compass in case you get lost.  You can also program it to tell you if you are hitting your goals.  Besides all THAT, it tells time, date and day in HUGE letters, easily readable.  It's SUPER WATCH!!  Sorry for the bad image, it wouldn't let me download a picture. It's not exactly small and petite, but it does absolutely everything I could ever want ... and I have a $300 credit!!

Once I came down off Cloud 9, I picked up my newest magazine.  I was thinking of making some of these hot-chocolate-in-a-jar gifts for my neighbors.  Wasn't I surprised when I flipped through the pages to find cookies, candy and cake recipes that sounded delicious!!  There are even a couple of soup recipes if your neighbors are trying to eat light!!  I immediately started a grocery list, since marshmallows, marshmallow creme and cocoa powder aren't usually in my cabinets.  Do you see another cooking disaster in my future??

SURPRISE!!  It turned out WONDERFUL!!  The only recipe in the book I had the ingredients for was the lemon pound cake, so I whipped up a batch of three loaves.  It's yummy, as you can tell because half of one loaf is missing already.  That was dinner by the way!  The other two are going out the door as gifts ... I promise!!  So I'm off to the store for some healthy things like peanuts, snickers bars and whipping cream!!  This should keep me busy over the weekend, in between packing the rig.

I actually DID get some packing done yesterday.  All of my coffee is loaded, along with dog food.  I had to trash 6 cans of vegetables that were past date ... some by two years!!  YIKES!!  It all came to a screeching halt when I discovered one slide wouldn't move at all.  Not even a squeak or groan.  I don't think it's getting any electricity, even though I checked all the breakers.  There must be one I'm missing.  Thankfully, it's the smallest slide that doesn't really need to extend for me to pack up and get on the road.  I'll have someone look at it in Indio.  It's always SOMETHING with these homes on wheels!!

It's Packing Time Again!!

The drapes aren't any further along ... I never did make it to Home Depot.  I thought I would hit the grocery store first, which turned out to be a bad idea.  I went into sticker shock when they rang up the total bill.  I'm sure there wasn't a whole COW in that basket, so what could have cost $186??  I knew no water in California would raise the food prices, but this is pretty crazy!!

Once I had all the ingredients, the meatloaf turned out great.  To make a healthier but still tasty version, I split the meat between ground beef and ground turkey.  You really can't tell the difference at all.  According to my Chef friend Patty, if you put enough spices in it, you can't tell what it really was in the first place!!  Laying a few pieces of bacon over the top helps pretty much too!!  I always bake them on a broiling pan, a little tip I saw on TV one day ... it lets all the grease drip below instead of soaking into the meat, as in a meatloaf pan.  Be sure to spray the pan with non-stick spray first ... it's a pain to clean if you don't ... this is experience talking!!!  It was mighty tasty and I won't starve as this will last four to five days.  Meatloaf sandwiches are GREAT for breakfast!!

The rest of the food is still stacked on the counter.  It's packing time again and most of it will be stashed in the motorhome, including REAL macaroni and mold-free cheese.  Today I'll put the slides out to gain access to the closet so I can go through the clothes and shoes.  I really don't know why I bother ... I always seem to take the wrong stuff and have to hit Walmart for something to wear.  

It's also time to go over my long list of important bills to pay ... like insurance, DMV licenses and property tax.  This may sound rather silly, but I actually keep a list with every due date, month by month.  The years run across the top, so as I pay them, I check off each one.  That keeps me from missing one ... like last year's vehicle insurance.  Thankfully my agent called me when she got the cancellation notice!!  THAT would have been bad news!!  

Since dieting hasn't been working of late ... actually it hasn't been working for the past 14 years ... I decided to get back to running.  Truth be told, that didn't help either ... apparently my metabolism is on a permanent vacation.  Hope springs eternal though so I hit the roads this last week when it wasn't raining.  I didn't get very far ... maybe 3/4 of a mile before turning around, but at least I ran the entire distance!!  It felt GREAT ... until I woke up this morning.  Well not exactly woke up, I think I was awake all night with the achey feeling of having my muscles work more than normal.  Ugh!!!!  So this morning I have to get back at it to get rid of the soreness temporarily.  That means tomorrow morning I'll be stove up again ... and the cycle continues!!

Here's a cute way to display Christmas greetings.  Maybe I can figure out how to hang it on the rig.  It's an old picture frame with chalkboard paint on 1/4" plywood, cut to fit the back.  Last night while watching the Cowboys football game, I drew on the greeting.  I think I need to change the squiggles to the left of Holly ... it looks like SHOLLY!!  At any rate, seeing all the decorations is getting me in the Christmas mood.  Maybe I'll put up my tree after all ... after I get the motorhome packed.

Hanging Drapes ... A Piece Of Cake .....

Not really, although I thought it would be.   I try to be prepared and plan ahead, but many times I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants with no idea what I'm doing ... just hoping for the best!!  Yesterday was a pretty good example!!

I spent the morning sewing the drapery material for decorative living room drapes.  That didn't go quite like I thought since the fabric had such a heavy weave and each panel is 4 yards long.  It made it very hard to keep the seams straight, despite hundreds of pins, half of which are now stuck in my sewing room carpet.   Now to take down the old hardware and rehang it higher above the window.  The first two screwdrivers I tried didn't budge the screws, so I trotted out to the motorhome and got my drill.  That didn't help at all ... but I finally removed them after stripping one of the screw heads.

I have to say ladies, this is not as easy as it looks.  The men already knew that, I'm sure!!

Once the hangars were removed, there were large holes from the whatchamacallits used to keep the screws tight in the sheetrock, since no studs were hanging around.  The whole project came to a halt while I scrounged through my back room cabinets to find some spackle.  The five huge white spots will need to be painted.  Yes, there are five ..... don't ask!!

Back on the ladder with tape measure, marking pen, screwdrivers, stud finder (which didn't find any studs in the neighborhood ... wooden or otherwise), hammer, whatchamacallits and screws, I proceeded to measure four times, mark three times and drill twice.  After I picked the drill up off the floor where it crashed briefly, I installed the whatchamacallits and screwed the hangar to it's new location.  I should have planned a little further ahead ... I have four more holes to drill on the other side and no whatchamacallits OR screws.  Sometimes even when I THINK I know what I'm doing, I STILL find I'm flying by the seat of my pants!!!  They're getting kind of worn out in the process!!

Two hours later I got one set up.  The picture doesn't do them justice with the light from the window, but they look pretty nice, if I do say so myself!!  I still think it's weird that you hang these so high, but that's what the decorator at my local furniture store said, so I'm blaming it on her!!

The furniture is in disarray and the ladder the centerpiece of my windows, but I can't do any more until I hit Home Depot.  

I was getting kind of hungry, so figured I would mix up that meatloaf I've been planning and get it in the oven.  Recipe??  Who needs a recipe ... my mom always just threw things together!!  So here I was flying by my seat again, when I discovered I have no onions, bell peppers, garlic, tomato sauce or eggs.  Scratch that idea.  As I stared into the fridge and the freezer looking for something edible, I spotted Velveeta and cheddar cheese.  Aha ..... macaroni and cheese sounds perfect!!  Hmmm I didn't plan very well for this one either.  I couldn't find any macaroni, but I had linguine I could break up.  The Velveeta was two months past it's "pull date" and the cheddar had a nice section of black and green mold.  That pretty much killed my appetite, as I went back to my old staple ... taquitos!!  I'm pretty sure I keep the taquito people in business!!  I think it's time to quit flying and do a little more planning.  

Squashing, Flying and Screaming!!

More glorious rain fell from the sky most of the morning yesterday, allowing me to stuff all the rest of the boxes in the recycle bin.  How you ask??  It's pretty silly around here, but the only thing you can recycle is cardboard ... and they have a bin just for that purpose.  The trouble is you can only get maybe one or two boxes in the bin.  Since I'm an Amazon Prime member, I order just about everything I possibly can from them ... and you KNOW that means tons of leftover boxes, big and small.  I try to nest them together, but always seem to have a huge stack outside my back door.  When it rains like this, I lay them all out in the driveway, where they get soaking wet.  Once they are real soggy, they fold up and squash down enough to fill the bin!!  I did a LOT of squashing yesterday!!

I think I mentioned my buddies are back, although they seem to have moved one street over for their nightly nesting ... which suits me just fine!!  It lessens the number of times I have to give Jessie a bath, having rolled in whatever dead pieces they dropped in the corrals.  Every morning however, they are flying high on the wind currents.  Since it's a balmy 60 degrees, I usually sit outside with my morning coffee ... UNDER the patio cover!

The other side of the house has this beautiful view every morning.  I just love to watch the sun come up!!  I'd love it even more if I could sleep in, but you already know the puppy story.

Lucky for me I found a local quilt lady named Ann and visited her yesterday.  What a great lady ... we have SOOOO much in common, and she has the biggest quilting machine I've EVER seen!  It's at least 15 feet long and almost fills her entire room.  The number of patterns she can sew are almost limitless.  Eureka!!!  I left two with her to quilt and have one more ready to drop off.  In the meantime, I'm going to work on those drapes today.  Hopefully I'll have some nice pictures tomorrow.  In between sewing, I have to cook something for dinner ... thankfully I finished off the last of the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy for breakfast!!  Another adventure in the making!!

Bingo was craziness as usual, but with a LOT more screaming than normal last night.  Since we will be closed two weeks in December for Christmas, they decided to make every bingo pot worth $250 instead of the usual $100.  That brought in 30 more people than normal, for a total of 132 screaming women (and some men too).  I mean they scream bloody murder when they win!!  There were the usual ones who try to sneak an extra packet or two without paying, but when the BIG crowds come in, I have to watch them like a hawk.  Ten of the 30 came back and tried to convince me they didn't get all their cards ... or their little red drawing ticket.  Sorry folks, you're barking up the wrong tree.  THIS girl doesn't let you pull any of that stuff.   My friend Ann who trained me here, is an Attorney, so they really don't have a chance.   They argue, cry and complain to the management ... but they forget, I'm an accountant, and the management LIKES me!!!  By the way Ann (whose on vacation) ... I can't wait for you to return!!!  At any rate, they were mostly happy by the end of the night when we finished doling out $5500.  Just another exciting night at BINGO!!

Is Nick Russell In California??

According to Nick, publisher of Gypsy Journal RV Newspaper  and author of the Big Lake series of books in the Amazon.com Kindle Store, the rain follows him everywhere he goes.  California has been dry as a bone for some time, with everyone here hoping and praying Nick and Terry's travels as full-time RV'rs would bring them our direction.  The last I heard, they were in Florida somewhere, but I'm thinking they took a little sneaky trip into California.  Big rain storms have been hitting us for several days now, and this one is the biggest yet!!  We usually get an inch or two, but with this storm, the weathermen are predicting 4-5 inches, so people are grabbing sand bags and shoring up their water defenses.  I just wanted to say THANK YOU Nick!!  We needed this!!

All the people in my neighborhood have been putting up their Christmas lights.  The folks that owned this home before me must have done the same, because there were hangars all over the front.  Unfortunately for me, the paint job was a bad one and I was forced to have the entire trim repainted,  which meant they pulled out all the hangars.  That probably wasn't a bad thing, because to hang lights, I would need to crawl up a 20 foot ladder.  Then I would have to leave them up year round because they are so pretty, tagging me with the title of "Redneck", so it's probably for the best that there will be no lights for Nancy.

Patty Chance put her tree up over Thanksgiving, with the cutest ornament I've ever seen.  What cat does this???  Apparently it didn't take two seconds for Miss Snoopy (can you guess how she got her name?) to climb up the tree.  This could end up being hazardous to someone's health!!

Truly wanting to be a part of the decorations, as soon as Patty unloaded the box of ornaments, she jumped right in!!  Miss Snoopy-drawers was a pretty scared rescue kitty in the beginning.  It's so much fun to see her personality come out as she takes total charge of the Chance household!!

For my RV friends, I was able to contact Jim from Mobile RV Maintenance yesterday.  He was recommended by Redlands Truck and RV Repair as one to service my rig while we're parked at the FMCA rally in Indio.  He will change the oil and fuel filters and service the entire rig, PLUS my generator right where I'm parked!!  How cool is that??  His prices are listed on his website MobileRVMaintenance.com in case you too need service.  VERY nice guy and comes highly recommended!!

One last thing ... did you know there was ANOTHER murder in Ferguson??  Funny I haven't heard hardly anything about THAT one.  I don't think there was rioting, looting and burning because of THAT murder, and it was the senseless killing of another black youth.  This time however, it wasn't by a police officer, so no one can play the race card, making it last page news.  It seems to me that card is played when stupid decisions have been made ... but they were YOUR PERSONAL DECISIONS.  YOU made the decision to skip school, hang with the wrong crowd, steal, use drugs and fight the police.  Whether black or white, it's those personal decisions that got you there ... so don't try to blame the rest of us because you are broke, live in a dump, are unemployed and don't think you have to follow the law.  Stop blaming everyone else and put the blame where it belongs ... on YOUR head!!  If you want a better life, YOU have to make the decision to find it.  Too bad Obama doesn't put THAT in his speech!!

Television Re-Runs!!

This post has absolutely nothing to do with television re-runs, although as one who stays home for a couple months at a time, I AM getting tired of the re-runs.  I've cooked that and it turned out terrible ... and what happened to all the home decorating-repair shows.  At least I learned something from THOSE!!  Now they show you how to tear apart the whole house, which is NOT up my alley!!

Okay, I'm off the subject.   Yesterday was a RE-RUN of Saturday!!  Since I forgot my camera and missed many nice photos AND I forgot the jam to be delivered, I decided to just go for a nice drive, take my time and take some pictures.  I've passed this sign many times ... Seven Legends Ranch Estates.  I've always wanted to have an entrance like this, so I drove in to see what it was all about.  The post pillars were a dead giveaway ... if you need rocks piled up like this to hold the posts up, it means you can't dig holes in the ground ... not a good sign if you're looking for a homesite!!

Once inside, I found absolutely NO homes ... just a long paved road to nowhere.  There were several large parcels full of dead orchard trees with huge pumps and holding tanks in the middle.  Apparently there wasn't even enough water to keep the trees alive.  What they DID have was cattle ... not that there was much to eat, but they looked to be in pretty good condition.

They were curiously interested with I first drove up, but quickly decided the grass was more interesting than I was.  Pretty babies they were!!

I crossed the Merced River at one point, still showing a little fall color.  With the heavy rains the last two days, most of the leaves were on the ground.  I'm sure people thought I was crazy, standing out in the wind and rain.  I had to be careful ... these roads are narrow with very few turnouts.  Usually I parked in someone's driveway and walked to where I could take a picture.

I'm sure the Chance's will know where this is ... part of the Jamestown Historic Railroad tracks that follow the highway.  It's too bad they don't use this section any more, but it's just too expensive to keep in good repair.

Green grass is already coming through at the tops of the hills.  In a few more days, all these beautiful yellow-brown wild oats will be gone and the mountains green like velvet with new grass.

I delivered the goods ... nothing like showing up at someone's door at lunchtime on Sunday, but Lori and Everett were gracious hosts, inviting me in to sit a spell.  It was SO worth the trip, catching up and getting to see a picture of their new grandson with his sister Ruby.   Hoping to see them in Quartzsite this year!  Oh, by the way, that jam needs to be kept in the refrigerator!!  Just as I got ready to leave, the rain began again.  I know California residents aren't used to driving in this wet stuff, but really people, 35 in a 55 isn't at all necessary!!  It's not SNOWING!!!  Frustrated, I finally just pulled over, took a couple pictures of a rock and let them get way ahead.  From then on, it was smooth sailing.

The last image I caught was of this absolutely gorgeous little tree.  I don't know what it is, but I WANT one!!  If anyone knows or has a guess, please let me know.  I would like to have TWO of these in my front yard.  Pretty spectacular to say the least!!!

I know it's Cyber Monday, but there's nothing cyber I'm looking for.  I got my discount fix on Friday and now need to get sewing on a Christmas present.  The sun should be out today long enough to dry the roof of the motorhome so I can start with the Aerospace 303 to lessen the oxidation.  Lots to do before I embark on another adventure!!!